This invention enables an air dispensed assembly, described herein as a submunition to perform a lateral maneuver to bring it closer to a target. This increases the lethality and effectiveness of a top attack type of air launched submunition.
In the prior art, artillery shells were fired into an area along trajectories which were calculated to bring about impact on both moving and stationary targets. Better targeting was accomplished by having an observer view the impact area and radio instructions back to the launch site advising them of needed changes to account for corrections in windage and coriolis forces.
More recently, consideration has been given to the launching of large caliber shells which on arriving over the intended target area separate into several submunitions, each capable of destroying a ground target. Available miniaturized electronic circuitry provides the feasiblity for enabling each submunition to carry sensors and data processors that can recognize and home-in on a designated target within a specified search footprint. A samara blade is added to the submunition cannister which causes the submunition to spin as it descends downward much like a mapleseed falls from a tree in the springtime. My invention adds the rotation of the blade based on sensor input. By selectively changing the angle of attack of the blade as a function of rotational position, the submunition can be automatically steered toward a target. The potential energy that the submunition has due to the pull of gravity when descending from a higher to a lower altitude provides the accelerative forces needed to move the cannister sideways with respect to the original velocity vector.